Sudbury soccer league finding its way

Disappointed as Milton Lessis has been by the decline of competitive soccer in Sudbury the last several years, he’s becoming more and more optimistic about its future.

While local and regional organizations may have struggled to recruit and retain enough coaches, referees and other volunteers to support leagues and tournaments and to justify expenditure on new or upgraded facilities, Lessis is encouraged by the level of community participation in support of the Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League, which kicked off its summer schedule earlier this month.

"We’re at the point now where we’re comfortable with the number of volunteers that we have aboard to help us manage everything that we do, from tournaments to league play," Lessis, vice-president of the SRCSL and board member for the Sudbury Regional Soccer Association, told The Star recently. "It has been really encouraging, because we have had a number of individuals who have contributed and new individuals who are contributing now, so we’re very encouraged on that topic."

Lessis’ passion for the Beautiful Game is a long-running one. He was raised in a small village in Corfu, Greece, which supported a quality turf field, despite a local population of about 2,000 people. He played the game at a high level for most of his childhood and adult life and still competes as a member of the SRCSL’s burgeoning 40-and-over men’s league, one of the organization’s biggest success stories in recent years, which held its first games just last week.

Also a key organizer of the Sudbury Star Cup, formerly the Caruso Club Tournament, he was disappointed to see the event cancelled in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017, in large part due to waning participation by southern Ontario clubs.

The task of organizing the tourney was easier at one time, as the Sudbury competitive men’s league was able to supply six or seven teams. Unable to take such a core of support for granted, Lessis and his colleagues have had to redouble and refocus their efforts.

"It’s because we have taken an active effort in the off-season, made a point to continue our discussion and to continue pursuing new opportunities 12 months out of the year," Lessis said. "We have had a lot more success in the winter months, starting everything six, seven months in advance of the season start.

"We’re going to be able to improve what’s already working and we’re going to have more individuals helping us with structuring our our summer tournaments."

The organization previously staged its major tournament on the Civic Holiday long weekend and remains committed to holding such an event, though future tourneys may be earlier or later, depending on what works best for participants.

"I work with individuals from Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay and they have the same challenges," Lessis said. "They put the motion forward, they reach out and they have success some years and they don’t have success some years. It’s a risk that an organizer has to take. We put in the effort and we have to be organized and diligent and proactive and the rest has to be a matter of timing and, of course, having the necessary support from other teams, as well."

Lessis, like SRCSL president Tony Nuziale, has repeatedly called for the various local organizations, both recreational and competitive, to work more co-operatively to make Sudbury soccer a success. Now, they’re also reaching out for support from other Northern Ontario communities, including North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.

"We believe that is the core group that needs to be involved in the future, if we’re to have larger tournaments in Northern Ontario," Lessis said. "We believe that, with a core group of teams, we’re able to have tournaments year after year, without really engaging the southern Ontario groups, and we believe that’s the key, because we don’t to be left in a position where we’re putting forward efforts without having enough teams to even run a tournament."

Already being planned is a men’s over-35 developmental competitive tournament, to be held Aug. 10-12, with many of the same elements of the previous Caruso or Sudbury Star tourneys. Organizers are focusing on the over-35 age bracket specifically, Lessis said, because it tends to enjoy stronger turnout in Sudbury, North Bay and the Sault.

"In previous years, a lot of the younger generations were participating in our tournaments. Now, those individuals have made it past the age of 35. In response to that, we have reorganized the the tournament structure and we have been able to make key strategic alliances with individuals in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie."

Those include Mark Hopper in North Bay and Tom Katagis in the Sault, both of whom have expressed their interest in bringing teams to the Nickel City.

Lessis hopes this leads to not just a thriving tournament, but a full-fledged Northern Ontario men’s league, similar to those which existed in years past and involved teams from across the region. He believes such as league would have great long-term development potential, not just among men over 35 or 40, but among players of both genders and at all levels.

"Kind of like how you have an Ontario Cup, you could have a Northern Ontario Cup, then we could promote our best athletes to compete in southern Ontario. The deficit that we face year after year is that Sudbury soccer players compete against Sudbury soccer players and North Bay players compete against their own cohorts. The whole premise behind competition is that you face new people, but not face new people who have a much, much higher skill set that you, where you can’t even learn. Most of the southern Ontario teams are playing each other, they’re exposed to different types of competition and they play teams they’ve never encountered before and it makes it more interesting. That helps them grow and we need that here, too. It’s a very, very important element of competition."

In past years, Lessis believes, co-operation between local groups has suffered from a lack of efficient communication, rather than poor relations. When new volunteers have taken over in key positions, he said, those in other clubs or organizations have sometimes been unfamiliar with that individual or their views.

"The No. 1 problem in recent years has been a lack of communication, not having a much more open platform where communication between clubs is encouraged and conducted," said Lessis, who also coaches at the club and high school levels.

"I have to say that the volunteers I have had the privilege of being involved with, we encourage a spirit of friendship and community support and we’re not just participating in soccer games. We’re working to try to build a better city, a better community for our children in years to come. We’re not competing against each other to the point where it becomes stagnant, inefficient relationships. We work diligently with one another and we respect one another, especially in the men’s over-40 league, where in the whole 2017 season, there was one yellow card. We really emphasize friendliness and competition."

They also focus on charity. This year, the men’s over-40 league will donate $2 for every goal scored to Butterfly Wings Perinatal Bereavement Services.

"It’s our way to give back," Lessis said. "It’s not a well-known charity, but it really supports families who have gone through losses involving children. We have had some executives who have suffered through these types of scenarios in recent years, right in the middle of soccer season."

Goal-scoring players themselves will be asked to match the donations, while teams or sponsors will be encouraged to do the same.